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We have had discussions on this board before about blight entering into the once pristine suburbs of the NE and NW Columbia Metro. The housing bust and rash of foreclosures has increased the odds that some suburbs could become blighted and headed for trouble.
Seems like the Town of Irmo is already facing this issue and is attempting to head it off at the pass (partner)
Poverty is moving to the suburbs. It's no longer the "us versus them" geographical situation suburbanites have relied on for so long. As more suburbanites are faced with poor neighbors and the problems poverty brings, they will have a choice: go with their initial fleeing/flocking instinct and desert the burbs for the cities, the small towns or the country, or stay put and vote for someone more likely to pass measures that address the root causes of poverty. Tangential note: Public transit has never been more important. BTW, I'm loving the tone of rejuvenation my in-town neighborhood continues to experience.
Poverty is moving to the suburbs. It's no longer the "us versus them" geographical situation suburbanites have relied on for so long. As more suburbanites are faced with poor neighbors and the problems poverty brings, they will have a choice: go with their initial fleeing/flocking instinct and desert the burbs for the cities, the small towns or the country, or stay put and vote for someone more likely to pass measures that address the root causes of poverty. Tangential note: Public transit has never been more important. BTW, I'm loving the tone of rejuvenation my in-town neighborhood continues to experience.
I know it seems counterintuitive but the best way to combat blight is to stay put.....when people flee an area.. particuliarly in mass it causes blight. This is what happened to many cities when there is a mass exodus..why would anyone move into a neighborhood where everyone is leaving.. You then you lose your neighborhood stability (i.e. neighborhood leaders, community volunteers, eventually businesses, and other key stakeholders) Thats not to say "no one should ever leave their neighborhood" in order to save it because obviously people leave neighborhoods for various reasons.. jobs, lifestyle changes, etc.. But when this happens naturally because of attrition.. the neighborhood can withstand it since there will likely be new residents interested in moving into a stable community.
If everyone starts moving out because of that "bad" house on the block as opposed to trying to remove the "bad" thing about the house from the neighborhood...the values then drops which then leads to deferred maintenance, neglect, and ultimately abandonment thus causing blight and it takes over a neighborhood house by house block by block.
Many suburban developments of certain price points also have been cheaply built and lack the character and durability of some of the older housing stock of the cities or older inner suburbs which have/can be modernized to fit contemporary taste but are ideally located near employment, shopping, transit or other amenities.....
Irmo is now experiencing what its "sister cities" in the midlands have been experiencing for some time (i.e. Cayce, West Columbia) Irmo is fortunate to be next to Lake Murray and the commercial district along Harbison Blvd..It still has challenges since the majority of Harbison Blvd may be in the City of Columbia and much of the high dollar real estate around the Lake is not in the Irmo "town limit" and may object because of taxes and other issues.
Irmo is experiencing what Columbia experienced as well. Ballentine, the adjacent area to the NW of Irmo, attempted to incorporate in order to keep Irmo out of their community. It failed, but it goes to show how Irmo is not viewed as a purely suburban city anymore.. especially by some of its neighbors.A similiar effort happened in the 1980s when St. Andrews attempted to incorporate.. At that time that area would have been one of the largest cities in the state somewhere around 15,000 to 20,000 people. That effort failed and there are pockets in St. Andrews, particuliarly of older apartment complexes, that could be considered "blighted" though certainly mainly by age. The proponents of incorporation argued for greater control of land use issues and the encroachment of Columbia as reasons for the incorporation.
The trend of the poor moving to the suburbs continues. You have to be careful which nook you choose if you move out there. While a subdivision might look well-kept, things aren't always as they seem, and it might not continue to look well-kept. The poor can be good neighbors, but poverty by history has bred problems such as litter, deteriorating houses and poorly performing schools. Maybe the people who were there first can help the poor instead of fleeing them.
Columbia's suburbs grew by 21% compared to around 8% in the city during the time period studied. Now more than 80% of the Columbia area's poor live in the suburbs. As I said in my last post, I hope the more well-off suburbanites who were there first will help them. Those areas tend to be right-wing Christian-type communities. Help thy neighbor. And newcomers, if living among the poor isn't your thing, don't be so quick to settle in the burbs unless you can afford a McMansion, and even then be careful.
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